Soccer - DFB takes action against hate speech online with the public prosecutor's office
The DFB and the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) of the Public Prosecutor General's Office in Frankfurt are taking joint action against hate speech on the internet. The reason for this was that players of the German U17 national team were subjected to racist insults. These cases have been passed on to the ZIT for criminal investigation and prosecution, the German Football Association announced on Tuesday. During the World Cup in Indonesia, racist insults were posted on the DFB's social media channels.
Following an initial investigation, 14 cases were found to constitute incitement to hatred. Investigation proceedings were then initiated in each case, it said. According to the DFB, the authors of the racist comments have been identified beyond doubt in four cases. In other cases, the offence of insult or the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations had been committed. The DFB has deleted the comments in question from its social media channels and permanently banned the users responsible.
The DFB and ZIT had already prosecuted hate comments against players of the German U-21 national team in June. "The DFB will continue to take consistent action against any form of hate speech online," explained the governing body.
"We will not accept the inhuman hostility towards our players on the internet, but will actively and sustainably combat it," said DFB Vice President Ronny Zimmermann. "We hope that the first identifications and prosecutions of perpetrators will have a deterrent effect."
Press release
Read also:
- A clan member is punished here
- Traffic lawyer warns: Don't talk to the police!
- Will he be convicted as Jutta's murderer after 37 years?
- He also wanted to kill his cousin
- The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt is working closely with the DFB and their Central Office to combat cybercrime, specifically hate speech against soccer players.
- In response to racist insults directed at German U17 national team players, the German Football Association (DFB) and the ZIT handed over several cases to the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt for investigation.
- Following an initial investigation, fourteen incidents of hate speech were identified and prosecution proceedings were initiated for each case.
- In four instances, the authors of the racist comments were identified beyond doubt, with other cases involving insult or the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations.
- After discovering and deleting the hateful comments from their social media channels, the DFB permanently banned the responsible users, demonstrating their strong stance against online hate speech.
- The DFB and ZIT have previously taken action against hate speech against players of the German U-21 national team, confirming their commitment to combating this issue in German soccer.
Source: www.stern.de
